Hungary seeks to support Ethiopian efforts, says house speaker

House Speaker László Kövér voiced his appreciation for Ethiopia’s supporting nearly one million refugees in the country, during talks in Addis Ababa on Wednesday, parliament’s press office reported.

Kövér arrived in Ethiopia at the invitation of Tagesse Chaffo, his Ethiopian counterpart, and was received by Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde and Abune Mathias, head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.

During talks with Chaffo, Kövér noted that Ethiopia was the second recipient of refugees in Africa, and added that Hungary seeks to support Ethiopian efforts through its Hungary Helps programme.

Talks with the Orthodox patriarch focused on providing help to persecuted Christians. Kövér said that Hungary’s financial aid would be focused on four refugee camps in Tigre state, accommodating some 60,000 Christians from Eritrea and South Sudan.

For that matter, a delegation of government and church representatives will set off for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya to “assess opportunities for assistance and deliver the government’s aid”, Tristan Azbej, state secretary in charge of aid for persecuted Christian and the Hungary Helps programme, told MTI on Wednesday.